BACA award presented to Brazilian artist Laura Lima

On 25 September 2014 the Dutch King's Commissioner in the Province of Limburg, Theo Bovens, presented the 2014 Bonnefanten Award for Contemporary Art (BACA) to the Brazilian artist Laura Lima. The BACA is the Netherlands' most important prize for international visual art. The BACA is presented to a living artist with an unusual oeuvre and demonstrable influence on other artists, a genuine 'artist's artist'. The award consists of a monetary prize of €50,000, a publication, and a solo exhibition in the Bonnefantenmuseum.  

2014 Bonnefanten Award for Contemporary Art (BACA)

The Bonnefantenmuseum has presented the Bonnefanten Award for Contemporary Art (BACA) every two years since 2000. The BACA is the Netherlands' largest international prize for the visual arts. The winner's art must demonstrate unusual quality and personality and have an important influence on other artists and major relevance for modern art practices. The winner must also be deserving of publicity in a leading Western European museum and of the production of an important catalogue to increase his or her visibility in the world. The BACA consists of a monetary prize of €50,000, a publication, and a solo exhibition in the Bonnefantenmuseum. The previous winners of the BACA are Eija-Liisa Ahtila (2000), Neo Rauch (2002), Pawel Althamer (2004), Bethan Huws (2006), John Baldessari (2008), Francis Alÿs (2010), and Mary Heilmann (2012). 

The international selection committee unanimously awarded the 2014 BACA to the Brazilian artist Laura Lima. This year's selection committee members are Stijn Huijts (the director of the Bonnefantenmuseum), Victoria Noorthoorn (the director of Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires), Ivo Mesquita (the director of Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo), Alfred Pacquement (Honorary Director of Centre Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris), and Cristiana Tejo (independent curator, Recife). The selection committee faced a difficult task given the current high level of visual art from Latin America. The committee commends the exceptional quality of Laura Lima's work and its significant influence on other artists.

Laura Lima 

Laura Lima studied art at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage and Philosophy at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. 'Architecture, geometry, ornamentation, language, power, irony and humour' are the terms that Lima herself uses to talk about her art. She constructs new situations by placing the bodies of living things (humans and animals) in unexpected relations with objects and spaces. These relations are open to the experience of the viewer, provoking a range of responses that go from laughter to bewilderment.

Continue reading at www.bonnefanten.nl

Read about Laura Lima's solo exhibition at Bonnefantenmuseum